58 The Book of Bugs. 



contrary, they are very busy most of the time. Whether 

 their activity is beneficial to the race is something I do 

 not care to discuss now. Fleas are not idle either, and 

 the proof of that is their legs. Most jumping creatures, 

 like the crickets and locusts, have their hind legs very 

 highly developed. Once started into the air, their wings 

 keep them going till they get out of the way. But the 

 flea, having no wings at all, must provide for a con- 

 tingency like that of the gentleman with whom they 

 board becoming unreasonable and making a fuss about 

 a mere bite. At such a time it is necessary to move from 

 there expeditiously. So the flea's legs are all hind legs. 

 To look at them, you would think that they had one more 

 joint than those of other insects, but they are the regular 

 standard leg. The difference is that instead of the joint 

 attaching them to the body being small and inconspicuous, 

 it is the largest and broadest of the leg. The flea looks 

 to be a very awkward animal, but it is my experience that 

 it is far from being such. I don't like the way the front 

 legs are set on at all, and the last pair pleases me no 

 better, but I must say in all fairness that all the fleas I 

 have come in contact with and while we kept the kitty 

 they were many- -managed to make those clumsy-looking 

 legs serve them admirably well. 



It was a most interesting kitty, fond of the strenuous 

 life to that degree that I had only to hold out my hand 

 as if grasping a big orange, slowly and tantalizingly 

 making squeezing motions, when the jungle was instantly 

 imported into my dining room. His ears would lay back 

 and he would stalk my hand as if he were a tiger and it a 

 nilghau drinking at a brook. His tail would lash, and 

 suddenly he would fling himself like a Maltese bomb- 

 shell at my unsuspecting hand and fight it like the very 

 dickens. He was a kitten with a sense of humor and knew 



